Nithya Ramanathan The problem of vaccine spoilage and a smart sensor to help TED
There I was, an American woman,
up to my knees in muck,
wielding these strange metal boxes.
I was in rural Bangladesh,
deploying sensors that we’d built
in order to understand why
the ground water was making people sick.
And I attracted some attention.
But my tech simply measured the problem.
The local communities
that I’d really come to connect with
were expecting a solution.
So I raised funds,
hired engineers from the city
in order to dig a deep well
and bypass the arsenic
and provide access to clean water.
And we celebrated.
But as I boarded the plane,
I thought, “What if it breaks?”
I’m an engineer.
I know that’s not if but when.
When the well breaks, who will fix it?
How will they pay for it?
And will they even know
there’s a problem in the first place?
And I soon learned
that this is all too often
how lifesaving equipment
is deployed globally
in countries with limited
electricity and infrastructure.
I kept thinking,
I don’t want to just build sensors
that measure a problem once it’s very bad.
What if instead we brought together
the tech built to measure
together with the equipment
built to solve?
What could we unlock?
Take vaccines.
Vaccines won’t work if they
get too hot or, surprisingly, too cold,
so distributing vaccines
requires refrigerators,
big and small,
to function reliably.
Fridges can save lives,
but all too often,
like any kitchen appliance, they break.
One study in South Asia found
that over half of vaccine doses
showed evidence of temperature damage
by the time of the end of their journey.
This means that the children
that would have received those vaccines
may not have actually been protected.
Fridge failure is a big problem,
and it can happen anywhere.
Here in California,
in 2015, Stanford Children’s Health
discovered a fridge
that had been malfunctioning
for up to eight months.
Staff contacted 1,500 families
about revaccinating those children.
But what if you can’t just
get the families on the phone?
What if they live a six-hour walk away?
What if that first shot is your only shot?
The stakes are high,
especially now with COVID vaccines.
Now, in May 2021, in Tanzania,
a failing fridge with our smart sensor
prompted an immediate response
from the regional immunization officer,
and a technician was out to the site
and fixed some faulty wiring,
and all the vaccines
at that site stayed safe.
Real-time sensor data
made all the difference.
We built a simple solution
that continuously monitors the temperature
and keeps that fridge
in Tanzania connected.
It sends an immediate text message
automatically when the fridge fails,
and importantly, the nurses
and the technicians are ready
and equipped to respond
and fix the problem.
My team and our partners
have scaled this technology
to over 15,000 sites
across Asia and Africa,
protecting the vaccine supply
for one in 10 babies
born on Earth each year.
(Applause)
And the same data that’s used
to actually detect the broken equipment
can also be used to reveal
the strongest links in the chain.
These are the best sites and routes
to use in an emergency.
My team is working now with countries
to reveal these pathways
for COVID vaccines,
so using sensor data
for identifying the best vaccine sites
in terms of temperature control.
In turn, these sites can then serve
as a backbone for all vaccine delivery.
Now and in the future.
So here’s what I’ve learned.
Sensor data can change the game
by providing a common source
of ground truth
that enables coordinated action
required to maintain lifesaving equipment.
Not just vaccine fridges
but any equipment deployed to save lives,
from solar panels on hospitals
to ventilators and oxygen tanks.
But in order to realize these benefits,
we need to invest in data
and ensure that
local communities and countries
are in the driver’s seat
and that they have access
to the resources they need
to act on what their data is telling them.
It’s worth it.
I know, because I have seen
how the same tech can be used to measure,
solve big problems
and sustain those solutions.
Just as my friends in Bangladesh
were right to expect all along.
Thank you.
(Applause)